Giving up is boring

Imagine the following: You like metal, but you recognize that most of it is a dumb product of a dying time and its conquerors, just like rock music. You find that underground metal offers a top slice of quality stuff and you really like it. The problem is that no one is producing much of it anymore.

Obviously, the path of least resistance is to bail out and get into techno, but if you're made of stronger stuff, you know that the path of least resistance is usually a bad end.

There's no point giving up. Victory is always closer than you think, and it doesn't consist of some liberalized vision like setting up a daycare center on some remote island where you teach 14 kids to like Deicide's Legion.

Metal is changing rapidly, and it needs voices calling for what brought about the past, and differentiating the newer stuff as "nu-metal","emo","metalcore" or other pejoratives.

You can have a positive influence, and it won't take any more effort than you're expending now.

Yes, indeed. ...i think the hardest part about this is finding individuals who want to do exactly that and starting a band with them. I've been so unlucky in this area. The individuals that i have met who are very true to underground metal are usually those who dont play instruments or are too lazy to do anything with music they have written. ...Whenever this starts to become a problem, I remember bands like Absurd (De), who did so much with absolutely nothing! When all those big, technical black metal bands were incorporating half of a symphonic orchestra in their music, Absurd was outdoing all of them (in my opinion) with one shitty guitar, a broken down bass, and a drummer who could barely play on time.

I think to those few individuals who press on, nothing that happens in this new, so-called "metal" community will have any consequence for them....just like Absurd or any other bands that pushed the envelope.

So i can't find any musicians to play alongside me. Thats precisely why over the past 4 years, i've learned how write songs, play drums (i was already a guitarist), and produce music by myself.

Or if no one can do it right, do it yourself. Besides the few metal albums I listen to any more, I find the only other metal worth listening to is my own. And because it's hard to find intelligent metal musicians, I write compositions that don't require drums or bass.

Something has to spark interest in the black metal scene or else there's no use. Really though, I can't imagine how tough it would be to find decent musicians who happen to like good black metal and wouldn't mind starting an underground metal band. And even when it does happen, they'll suck anyways. I don't blame metal for failing at the moment. Most bands doesn't seem to know what it takes to create quality metal, nor do I think they want to. I'll never stop supporting metal, but either way It doesn't make a difference. I'm learning guitar at the moment, but I don't think I'll be the next Bathory.

Logged

shadowmystic

If someone was going to give up I'd simply ask them...why? What is your life worth if you can't fight for an ideal, it is irrelevant whether or not you ever achieve anything, as this will be erased by time anyway, but as far as I'm concerned a problem is the responsibility of anyone capable of perceiving it. If you ignore a problem you know to be real your life is worthless.

I also agree that people looking to restore metal should be at least attempting to create it. The trick is to evaluate your own music objectively and never sacrifice quality, and get tips from other intelligent listeners. That said not everyone is a composer, people should help metal in the ways that suit them best.

I recently attended a show with Malevolent Creation and Vader - as well as 3 horrid emo-core opening acts - and found myself reminded of so many of the bad tendencies and shortcomings among metal fans/musicians that reduce such a strong force for positive change to just another day-care center. I'm glad I went - it was one of the only real metal concerts I've attended - but for all the life-force augmenting power that was there, there was also a lot of rather discouraging stuff as well ( 20 hours of bullshit for 20 minutes of magic)

To keep it sort:

1) How many great metal bands have existed? few How many have started in the past 10 or so years.? even fewer2) Of the great, classic ('80-'95) metal bands that have existed, how many of them are still active? very few3) How many of those active bands still release quality music? even fewer4) How many of those bands still perform live? ? ? ?

Taking in the sights of the venue, I couldn't help but be reminded of how many average unexceptional people have gotten into metal, even the most intelligent, elitist forms metal. Standing in the back of the auditorium, looking over tops of heads, taking in the mighty storm that is SOTHIS, I asked myself, "For all the wild flailing and posturing, how many of the people in this audience actually KNOW the meaning of this music?" Many would probably give some sort of vague interpretation, and maybe 1 or 2 people will have actually DECODED. Of course, it's only a small percent of humanity that has the brains and discipline to truly understand the code of a great death metal song, (smaller of a % for classique of course). I

For metal ideals to be realized, the best minds within metal - scatted across US, Canada, Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, Mars - must join together, fight together! Some great work in this capacity has been done here but this is only the beginning.

Taking in the sights of the venue, I couldn't help but be reminded of how many average unexceptional people have gotten into metal, even the most intelligent, elitist forms metal. Standing in the back of the auditorium, looking over tops of heads, taking in the mighty storm that is SOTHIS, I asked myself, "For all the wild flailing and posturing, how many of the people in this audience actually KNOW the meaning of this music?" Many would probably give some sort of vague interpretation, and maybe 1 or 2 people will have actually DECODED. Of course, it's only a small percent of humanity that has the brains and discipline to truly understand the code of a great death metal song, (smaller of a % for classique of course). I

...what you experienced is an uncanny reflection of what i see every time i go to a concert. On that same note, the Suffocation show i attended last November is called to mind for the very same reasons. They used to be such an amazing band and to see them turn into the whining flop they are has been a big disappointment for me...

...but, the old stuff means too much for me to completely turn my back on metal music. That goes for every band that used to be great, but sold out. ...That particular Suffocation show was interesting for several reasons. For one, i finally understood what the crowdist mentality actually means and how its manifested in music as well as the band's overall presence. The members of the band were very nice, i admit, but the problem was that they had no problem admitting the fact that they were angry at the crowd turnout for that show. There were probably 30 or so people there and i recall one of the members of Suffocation being severely distraught by that fact. Why should it have mattered? Were they expecting to fill out a fucking stadium!? Just because we don't have a "scene" in my town, bands avoid coming here altogether. If that really is the reason, then they can just eat a soft cock as far as i'm concerned. That crowd mentality has completely consumed great bands like Suffocation, Deicide, Morbid Angel, etc.

perhaps it could be better if artists focused on making music THEY enjoyed, and that THEY were happy with.

that is what i would like to create someday. if people happen to like it, that's all well and good, but i would foremost like to create music for myself.

Absolutely....however, most metal artists do not create music that THEY like simply because they are afraid to face themselves.

This is something most of us realize and i think its a significant factor in metal's bad condition: Bands no longer play music that they genuinely enjoy, but cater to their small group of fans (or metalheads, black metallers, death metallers, whatever..). In other words, their sole reason for writing the riffs they write, choosing the artwork, and writing the lyrics to their metal albums is to please these clowns that infest the community. These musicians that produce this contrived metal are most likely individuals who have lost touch with this so-called spirit (or however you'd like to refer to it) of extreme music and simply push themselves to remain "brutal, true, extreme" in order to avoid facing the emptiness underneath their every musical move.

...their minds are always geared towards their core audience's reactions. Thanks to this, metal is no longer rebellion, but just another way to feel like some rockstar when you've met the metal fan's expectations.

Divus_de_Mortuus

People don't mean to give up on metal, but that usually happens when people realize metal in itself isn't worth the effort anymore. Just listen to classical. There are more productive things in life. No one likes to hear me say these things here, but it's the truth.

People don't mean to give up on metal, but that usually happens when people realize metal in itself isn't worth the effort anymore. Just listen to classical. There are more productive things in life. No one likes to hear me say these things here, but it's the truth.

metal as a genre of music in itself isn't anything, but i think the ideas and feelings can live on in some other form - hopefully becoming more refined and evolved with age (like you say listen more to classic composers). so in this way it's a stepping stone, as you're not just pussying out into some other genre.